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Tom and Tom, founders of Nantucket Nectars, continue to keep their business juices flowing in business - this time with new Web-based technology to link the food and beverage supply chain.
The pair, known as the "juice guys," continue to grow their juice business and are now shifting some of their energy into Shelflink Inc., intended to address inefficiencies they discovered in distributing their line of popular soft drinks.
Tom First and Tom Scott began working on this idea nearly two years ago, and launched their Internet venture just last month.
"The real inefficiencies were in time and accuracy," First said. Salespeople were wasting time traveling to retailers, who were not always ready to order. Communication issues meant missed and inaccurate product orders, and retailers were missing promotions.
Shelflink, First said, is an improvement for everyone, and is geared to solve most of those problems.
Using Shelflink, retailers are tied directly to distributors, distributors gain efficiency and suppliers gain a sales database and can target promotions directly to retailers.
"When a retailer who is a major customer has problems on Shelflink, distributors know immediately when it is happening," First said.
Paul Peckham, president of All Natural Distributors, said that...